The Partial Observer by The Session of The First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown

Assault Weaponry Has No Place with Citizenry

When will enough be enough?” is the question that has been underneath an all-too-regular lament of the congregation and leaders of The First Presbyterian Church of Cooperstown, joining other such cries from communities around the state and country. In the wake of tragic news story after tragic news story, at the sight of every flag lowered to half-mast, in the midst of every gathering for prayer and solace while we grapple with the awareness of communities broken apart by gun violence, this question has been underneath it all. “When will enough be enough?” we constantly find ourselves wondering. Eventually, we reached the point when we could no longer let the question go unanswered. Members of our congregation have written to our elected officials individually; it was time to speak with a broader voice, starting with our particular faith community.

Following the mass shooting in March of 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee at a preschool connected to a “cousin church,” the Session (the elected, governing body) of First Presbyterian sent an overture to our regional governing body, The Presbytery of Utica, to pass a resolution to be distributed on behalf of the presbytery to our elected officials. And in the midst of this process, our country sat through more mass shootings, along with a string of shootings due to heightened fear and suspicion (for instance, a car of teenagers turning around in a driveway after they mistook it for the address they were looking for). And each time, the question echoes in our broken hearts, “When will enough be enough? When will the loss of innocent life outweigh our country’s desire to uphold a right that was established before we had a standing army? Before assault-style weaponry could fire a multitude of bullets in a matter of life-changing seconds?”

The intent of this resolution from our Session is applied specifically to assault and assault-style weaponry, the kind that was created for military use due to its capacity to do little else than take mass amounts of life in a matter of seconds. Our belief is that there is no justifiable reason for such weaponry to be in civilian hands. Our resolution to the presbytery, and our message to elected officials, is solely to find a way to keep this particular weapon out of citizen hands. Nothing more, but also nothing less.

We know that there are other social issues and ills which need addressing: hunger, homelessness, human and child trafficking. These issues, and more, are a calling upon the church and other faith communities to address. We will. But before we could go any further, we needed to answer the question of “When will enough be enough?” with our answer of “No more.” No more school shootings. No more grocery store shootings. No more rampant or wanton death. No more families and communities destroyed because someone had access to an AR-15 and decided that was their best option. No more.

This resolution is one step we’ve taken to ensure that enough is enough; and we know that we are not alone. The Presbytery of Utica continues to engage these efforts, inviting neighboring presbyteries and other faith communities. We know this won’t solve everything. But it will mitigate the capacity of death. In this, we choose life. What step will you take with us?